WEBVTT - Jeet Heer & Skye Perryman 0:00:00.640 --> 0:00:04.160 Hi, I'm Molly John Fast and this is Fast Politics, 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:07.120 where we discussed the top political headlines with some of 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:11.600 today's best minds, and Mitch McConnell says that Donald Trump's 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:16.440 pardons were a mistake. Welcome to the resistance, Mitch McConnell. 0:00:16.760 --> 0:00:18.799 We have such a great show for you today. The 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:22.960 nation's keyd here tries to make sense of Trump's plans 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:27.280 to annex Canada and make him an American citizen. Then 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:31.480 we'll talk to Democracy now Sky Perryman about the many, many, 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:36.560 many lawsuits that her organization is filing against Trump's two 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:37.839 point zero agenda. 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:40.360 But first the news Somali. 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:43.680 There is now the Elon Act. 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:46.879 The other day I saw an Elon University sticker out 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:47.200 a card. 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:49.600 I thought, does it teach you? That's wheat badly that 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:50.640 I remembered it was real. 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:53.120 Now we have the Elon Act, which is going to 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:57.920 put a border between government contracts and people working in government. 0:00:58.120 --> 0:00:58.920 What are you seeing here? 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:02.040 This is something if Congress had ever been at all 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:05.759 interested in legislating ever, this would have exit. This would 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:09.240 have been passed twenty years ago. Right, this is why 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:13.440 we have legislation, Right, this is why we do it. 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:20.280 So basically, there's a Congressman from Wisconsin, Mark Pocan, who 0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:24.280 is going to roll out the eliminate looting of our 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:29.880 nation by mitigating unethical state cryptocracy quote and then in 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:32.000 brackets Elon Musk act. 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:34.399 Can we just applaud him for that? Very well done. 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:37.360 You know why he's doing this, eliminating looting in our 0:01:37.480 --> 0:01:43.160 nation by mitigating unethical state cryptocracy Elon Musk Act. The 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:45.240 reason why he's doing this is because the chances of 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:49.360 this passing are exactly zero. Right, Democrats don't control the House, 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:52.120 they don't control the Senate, they don't control the presidency. 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:55.120 That's the understatement of the year. So the point here, 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:57.680 and I think it's actually smart, is just to have 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:00.880 it out there. You know what Mark's doing here, he's hoping. 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:03.280 You know, he knows that a lot of Republicans won't 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:05.200 read the bill, but they might read the title. 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:06.520 So that's very smart. 0:02:06.880 --> 0:02:10.160 And again, the idea there is no government employee special 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:13.639 or not uses special in quotes should have any financial 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:16.160 interest in the government period. 0:02:16.200 --> 0:02:16.720 Paragraph. 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:19.080 Elon Musk is the poster child for this kind of 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:22.280 potential abuse. I want to just point out there was 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:29.840 a really smart tweet from my friend and yours, Steve Ratner, 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:32.680 who goes on Morning Joe alone, is very smart. That 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:36.440 must companies have received over fifteen billion dollars from the 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:40.600 United States government. So between Tesla, which has an enormous 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:44.160 amount of government contracts, actually Tesla only has three hundred thousand, 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:49.639 but SpaceX has fifteen point four billion dollars in government contracts, 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:53.200 and they work with NASA, the EPA, but most of 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:55.040 that money comes from NASA, but they also work with 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:58.280 the Defense Department. So when you realize that Elon Musk 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:01.440 makes a ton of money from the federal government, this 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:04.280 all makes a lot of sense. Why he should not 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:07.720 be running it too. He should I'll be profiting and 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:10.120 running the federal government. Look, this is why we have 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:13.280 all of this legislation, you know, the sort of post 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:20.519 Watergate legislation, which was to curb corruption. And so obviously 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:23.320 we need more legislation. It won't can pass, but it's 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:28.400 very good to see Democrats doing this. It's important and 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:31.440 useful and also what this is. And by the way, 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:34.880 it's important to keep remembering that Elon Musk is in 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:39.440 the government's computers and he's got his tech bros who 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:42.400 are in their twenties, and they're all in there messing 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:43.640 around Smiley. 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:46.200 After we get done taping yesterday, I walked up to 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:49.320 talk to my lovely wife and I encountered a television 0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:53.080 with Donald Trump yapping next to Benjamin Yette Yahoo. And 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:56.720 I wanted to believe I was watching AI generated madness, 0:03:56.760 --> 0:03:59.360 but in fact I was watching Trump suggest that the 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:00.960 US take a for the Gaza strip. 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:01.600 Look. 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:06.000 Trump has mused about what good real estate gaza is. 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:10.760 This is something we've seen him do before. It's what 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:15.200 is it. It's Trump's usual sort of freelancing what he 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:20.719 said yesterday. And again, remember it's Trump. So there's a 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:23.320 lot of you know, there's a lot of flooding the 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:27.160 zone shit, so nobody really knows what's happening here, And 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:30.919 like I want to point out that it's possible he 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:34.720 was just freelancing. In fact, there's a picture of Susie Wiles, 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:36.800 his chief of staff, when he was saying it, and 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:40.080 her eyes were bulging out of her head, which makes 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:42.320 me think, you know, it was like when Trump. Remember 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:44.880 when Trump said maybe if you bring the light into 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:49.840 the body with COVID, you can kill COVID and then 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:53.560 you saw you saw Deborah Burke, who was working in 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:54.640 the ADMIN. 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:56.960 Like her eyes bulging out of her head. That was 0:04:57.000 --> 0:04:57.680 what this is like. 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:03.520 So anyway, we saw him talk about this to a 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:08.200 whole musing about how maybe he would send in American troops. 0:05:08.600 --> 0:05:11.119 Nobody wants American troops in the Middle East. In fact, 0:05:11.240 --> 0:05:15.320 he was elected to make eggs cheaper. That's not happening, 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:19.240 and also to end endless wars, also not happening. But 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:21.960 he's not going to be able to send American or 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:24.920 if he does, there's going to be a major constitutional crisis, 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:27.640 which will be not surprising. 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:29.840 Personally, Malli, what did it for me? Is newest member 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:32.640 of the resistance, Rand Paul said that he didn't quite 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:35.159 see this out this as an American first agenda. 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:39.560 This is the most cursed timeline where Rand Paul and 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:43.600 Mitch McConnell are being held up as voices of sanity. 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:46.640 We are so incredibly. 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:49.080 Fucked speaking of the CIA has offered buyouts to the 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:51.800 entire workforce of the CIA. 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:54.960 So I want to point out that having to defend 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:58.320 the CIA is not as a lefty we don't want 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:03.960 to defend the CIA in our minds nation building is bad. Okay, 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:08.559 I don't want you know, like usaid, We've talked about 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:10.800 this last week or last episode. 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:13.560 Hey brings me no pleasure to defend the. 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:17.200 FBI in the CIA, right, These are you know, organizations 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:21.520 filled with Republicans, and yet I think firing the entire 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:25.400 CIA might be a mistake. I'm just gonna go out 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:27.560 on a limb here and say, some of those guys 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:31.560 are doing pretty important stuff preventing terrorism. You know, look, 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:33.159 I don't even want to say this because I don't 0:06:33.160 --> 0:06:35.120 want to jinx us, but there's a reason why we 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:38.679 haven't had a wide, you know, an enormous terrorist attack 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:41.440 since nine to eleven. It's because these people in the CIA, 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:43.800 in the FBI have been keeping us safe. And I'm 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:46.839 sorry to tell you I take no pleasure in any 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:50.400 of this. But I don't think firing the entire CIA 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:51.320 is a good call. 0:06:51.839 --> 0:06:54.039 And now I am. 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:58.000 Done because I'm so depressed. But yes, don't fire the CIA. 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:01.040 This is an insane thing to do. And you know 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:03.120 what the other thing is that these buyouts are all 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:06.239 just completely you know, they don't have the money for it. 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:08.799 It's you know, it's elon. Just try to get people 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:11.080 to quit so that he doesn't have to deal with them. 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:13.480 Yeah, it's pretty silly. 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:16.960 So next we come to a Politico article that, well, 0:07:17.200 --> 0:07:19.560 we never like to do the I told you so thing, 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:21.320 but we should really. 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:21.800 Try to love that. 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:24.280 I should try to mark the I told you so 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:27.119 with a little bit of facts of thirty seven ways 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:30.240 Project twenty twenty five has shown up in Trump's executive orders. 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:32.480 What you got, Molly, There are a lot of ways. 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:35.520 I know you're going to be shocked to hear that, just. 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:38.080 As many people are often saying, there are many ways 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:39.280 that this is showing up. 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:45.520 Look, Project twenty twenty five is like social issues school choice, 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:49.640 which is, you know, defunding public schools, allowing troops to 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:54.760 rejoin who decline the COVID nineteen vaccine, banning transgender troops, 0:07:54.920 --> 0:08:00.000 closing the Office of Federal Contract Compliance programs, ending diversity 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:04.880 in the equity and inclusion, ending government efforts to fight misinformation, 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:09.040 enforce the death penalty, and execute prisoners on death row. 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:13.520 What else, remove DEI from federal hiring. We are just 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:14.720 in it in. 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:20.080 A way that is completely insane and Okay, we're sending 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:24.120 health care protections for sexual orientation and gender identity Right, 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:28.400 which of course restrict federal funds from supporting abortion access 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:31.400 abroad and under the Mexico City I mean, it's just 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:35.360 everything you thought using Civil Rights Act to remove gender 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:39.000 ideology and critical race theory, withdraw from the World Health Organization, 0:08:39.679 --> 0:08:44.199 you know, every plan that we thought, We just knew 0:08:44.400 --> 0:08:46.120 that this was going to be. This was how it 0:08:46.160 --> 0:08:49.640 was going to be. And it's just incredible. You know, 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:52.800 when Trump said he wasn't going to do it, we 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:55.600 should have just no one should have believed him. And 0:08:56.040 --> 0:08:59.520 here we are, and he's staffed a lot of project 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:02.480 you know, worthy of So many people worked in Trump 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:07.600 one point zero, went into the Heritage Foundation or the 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:10.760 other groups that Row Project twenty twenty five and now 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:13.800 are in Trump two point zero or are on the 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:20.239 outside trying to control it. This is just completely, completely 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:23.640 crazy and I'm not surprised at all, and none of 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:24.240 us should be. 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:26.280 And we saw this coming a mile away. 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:34.440 Jeet here is a contributor to the nation and the 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:37.319 host of the Time of Monsters. 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:41.880 Welcome back to Fast Politics. Jeat Here. 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:43.320 Always good to be on. 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:45.000 I'm such a fan of yours. 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:48.040 And you know, it's funny because it's like you have. 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:52.239 Been coming on this podcast through the last four years 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:55.800 of normal. But you know, we certainly have had our 0:09:55.880 --> 0:09:58.839 problems with Joe Biden, don't get me wrong, you know, 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:01.920 and there was certain only some things where we were 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:07.040 both i think quite agitated, like his foreign policy perhaps 0:10:07.080 --> 0:10:08.439 not reflecting my own. 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:13.920 But wow, holy Molly. 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:16.840 Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no, we're crazy town. Now. 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:19.559 There was shock, there was awe yesterday. 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:22.480 There were so many things that happened, and some of 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:26.040 them will have lasting implications, some of them will affect 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:28.679 what our lives are like ten years from now, and 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:31.400 some of them will just be a rounding error. 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:33.040 So where do you want to start? 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:35.320 Yeah, well, I mean, actually, I think that's a really 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:38.400 crucial point that I think a lot of the sort 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:41.440 of Trump strategy, which I think he gets from Bannon 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:43.840 as well, is to just like, you know, creates so 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:48.040 much chaos that it confuses the opposition. And I think 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:51.880 that what has to like distinguish between things that are 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:56.719 appalling but actually like don't match policy or don't have 0:10:56.880 --> 0:11:00.440 quite the policy consequences, whereas things that are actually bad 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:03.320 in terms of like actual events that are happening in 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:05.400 the world. Because you know, we know Trump is a 0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:08.320 BS artist, so I actually want to like just clarify 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:10.160 that point because there's a lot of stuff that he said, 0:11:10.400 --> 0:11:12.280 you know, like yesterday one of the United States to 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:16.079 take over Gaza, presumably after Palstinin's had been cleared out 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:18.800 of there, and to make the so called riviera of 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:21.320 the Middle East in Gaza. It's a great real estate 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:23.439 opportunity folks get in. 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:27.440 And by the way, I want to specify that we're 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:31.040 laughing to keep from grime because this is so dystopian 0:11:31.080 --> 0:11:31.559 and dark. 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:33.679 Yeah, I mean, like just like on the face of it, 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:35.959 you know, this is an American president who's calling for 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:40.960 our a ethnic clergic be you know, kind of imperialism. 0:11:40.080 --> 0:11:42.839 Yes, and more American troops to the Middle East to. 0:11:42.800 --> 0:11:46.120 Get yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, like if it were to happen, 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:49.720 so super appalling, even appalling if it doesn't happen, because 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:52.920 this totally discredits the United States on the world stage 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:55.880 in terms of all its claims and to support the 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:58.440 international law. Now, having said that, I want to tie 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:00.959 this in with the sort of terrifores going on because 0:12:01.040 --> 0:12:03.720 it's very interesting to see how Trump operates on this 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:05.880 and I think it is a lot of this is 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:08.440 what in professional wrestling is known as k fabe. 0:12:08.520 --> 0:12:09.640 Ooh, what's that? 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:14.120 K fabe is like how you're watching something that is 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:18.040 it's the tacit agreement between the audience and the wrestlers 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:20.680 to pretend that everything is real even though they know 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:21.360 it's not real. 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:23.080 Oh, that's really interesting. 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:26.679 It's a very useful term. And Trump himself the product 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:28.959 of the world of professional wrestling. I mean, this is 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:31.200 one of the reasons he's president. He's like built a 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:35.200 celebrity in the WWE world, and he's made Vince pac 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:37.920 Man's wife. She's the nominee to be at the Department 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:38.600 of Education. 0:12:39.280 --> 0:12:40.680 She knows a lot about learning. 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:43.880 That's the right. Yeah, but I mean he's a professional wrestler. Like, 0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:46.439 like one should no more take anything, Crump says seriously 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:49.160 than one should take the feud between a Hulk hole 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:52.360 Gan and Andre the Giant, right, Like, this is a 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:55.720 lot of this is like performative now, especially on the 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:58.679 trade wars. Like I want to underscore this because what 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:01.960 Trump has done is a He's made huge claims of 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:04.360 like you know, wanting to annex Canada, which I gotta 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:06.960 tell you in Canada is not making people very happy here. 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:10.040 Wanted to annex Greenland, wanted to take over the Panama 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:13.520 Canal again, and then having the tariffs, launching a trade war, 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:16.760 and then negotiating. And what's interesting is that what he's 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:20.440 negotiating like is actually like basically the same or like 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:23.280 less than what the US had. So like just the 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:26.120 clearst cases in Mexico where you say, like, oh wow, 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:31.120 Mexican President Claudia Shineban has agreed to send ten thousand 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:34.920 Mexican troops to supporter Well guess what underbinded that fifteen 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:38.200 thousand troops, So this is like five thousand less troops. 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:40.960 And he also got Trump to say that the US 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:43.520 will work on a major Mexican issue, which is the 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:46.280 selling of like you know, high powered military weapons made 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:50.280 in America to the Mexican cartels, which is something Mexico wants, right, 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:52.760 Like you look at the negotiations, like, you know, Mexico, 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:54.840 to my mind, came out on top of this. Now 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:57.480 in Canada like the same thing, like like you know, 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:01.040 he had trade war, threats of taking over were negotiated, 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:04.400 and what basically just In Trudeau agree to was when 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:07.280 you know, wrapping up spending on border, which he'd already 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:10.960 agreed to under Biden, and the setting up a fentanyl zar, 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:14.200 whatever the hell that means. And I gotta say, like, like, 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:17.280 in twenty twenty three, do you know how much ventanyl 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:19.720 came in was caught at the border between kind of 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:20.520 the United States? 0:14:20.680 --> 0:14:23.160 How much ten pounds? 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:27.600 Two pounds? What? And last year was like forty eight pounds, 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:30.720 And like the Katie Van says is a massive amount 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:33.920 of ventanyl, Well it's actually like less than your average 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:35.360 like healthy dog. 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:38.560 Ways exactly, even my dog's way more than. 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:41.600 That, yeah, exactly. So I gotta say, like, so he's 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:44.080 getting like basically nothing. You can go down the line 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:47.000 with Panama, you know, like they agreed to break up 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:49.560 greate agreements with China, which they had already agreed to 0:14:49.680 --> 0:14:52.440 break up like in twenty nineteen. So so again, he's 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:54.760 getting nothing from these agreements, but he's getting a lot 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:58.560 of theater. And I think that the theater is both 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:01.400 the sort of like to please the mega base will 0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:03.240 like look on this to day all, look how strong 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:06.200 Trump's winning on the international stage. He's like beating his chest, 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:10.080 He's showing America's great again, while getting nothing and secondly, 0:15:10.280 --> 0:15:12.680 I don't know if it's a deliberate strategy for distraction, 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:16.040 but it actually like takes people's focus away for the 0:15:16.160 --> 0:15:19.560 real stop. And I gotta say, like for the last week, 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:22.560 you know, the real stop is Elon Musk taking control 0:15:22.880 --> 0:15:25.560 of the federal government of the actual like you know, 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:28.080 going in there. This guy hey, like you know, hasn't 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:30.880 been confirmed by the said or anything, is head of this. 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:33.760 This is called DOGE, which is like, oh, only exists 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:35.680 because of like an executive order by Trump. He's not 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:38.160 a real agency. Is staffed by like you know, like 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:41.840 basically teenagers cronies of Musk whose names he doesn't even 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:42.720 want to reveal. 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:45.720 Right because that's docs and even though they work for 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:49.560 the federal government and he's stocked other federal government employees before. 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:52.680 Yeah, and also like you know, like actually, if he 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:55.240 wants us to have a government official that's like in 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:57.720 charge of like the system that makes all your Social 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:00.480 Security checks go out, you should actually know they're right, 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:03.960 So they've taken over this. Economist Nathan Tankas has done 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:06.480 a lot of really good writing really explaining this like 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:10.200 a detail, but basically this is the beating heart of 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:12.560 the federal government. You know, just as your heart pumps 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:16.600 up blood, the financial system of finances picking out is 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:18.920 what pumps out all the checks that you know, so 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:21.080 you get your Social Security get check, you get your 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:24.600 Medicare check, you get like everything. And now Elon Musk, 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:27.680 a private citizen, happens to the world's richest man, happens 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:29.880 to have a lot of government contracts, is able to 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:33.200 look at like everyone's Social Security number, and every check 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:35.560 that goes to the federal government sends out, and he 0:16:35.600 --> 0:16:38.920 can like look into the basically the contracts of all 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:42.400 his rivals and has like this enormous power. And you know, 0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:45.520 they indititionally lied and said they're doing only read only, 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:48.960 but actually it's been reported by Wired they're able to 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:52.320 they're actually like changing the codes of this finance system. 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:56.160 And that is an incredibly dangerous overreach. And it's basically 0:16:56.160 --> 0:16:59.920 a coup like Musk has committed like uh, successful coup 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:02.600 at the highest levels of federal power. This is like 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:06.280 a hugely worriesome thing. And I think it's actually I EI, 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:07.960 the one thing that gives me heart is that I 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:11.920 think this is something that's resonating. Individual did a zoom 0:17:11.960 --> 0:17:15.600 call which crash started twenty thousand and not a lot 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:18.080 of people are going under protest, and like I think 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:21.679 as fectless as I feel that Democrats have been, so 0:17:21.800 --> 0:17:25.080 she said, Trump's victory, this is actually like getting people 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:28.840 like check Schumer out there protesting and been thinking about 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:32.600 like becoming you know, like God forbid, a real opposition party. 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:34.800 So I want people to be able to distinguish, you know, 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:37.680 like it's gone like over loud territory and it's a 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:40.960 bit roundabout, but distinguished between the things that are theatrical, 0:17:41.200 --> 0:17:44.160 that are basically you know, appalling on every level should 0:17:44.160 --> 0:17:46.520 be condemned, Like it's not actually good for the American 0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:49.640 president to talk about annexing other countries, you know, whether 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:53.359 it's Canada, Greenland or Gaza. That's not good. That should 0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:58.080 be condemned straightforwardly. But it's not happening. What is actually 0:17:58.200 --> 0:18:01.639 happening where where I think that folk of protests and 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:04.919 energy has to be Like I think that basically with 0:18:04.960 --> 0:18:07.359 the trade stuff, like I would and the gods of stuff, 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:09.679 I wouldn't ignore it, but I would just like I 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:11.720 think the best response is just like you know, you're 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:12.680 just talking out of your hat. 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:16.240 Well, and also I want to add, like, I think 0:18:16.240 --> 0:18:17.480 you're right, and I think. 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:19.600 There are two things though that have to be remembered. 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:22.800 One is that all of this is to extend tax 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:25.880 cuts for very rich people. None of this is needed, 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:29.919 None of this must happen. You can just reverse the 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:34.440 twenty seventeen tax cuts and then we're all fine. Right, 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:38.640 there's some debt, but it's not crazy. You can balance 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:43.160 the budget without destroying the federal government. This is because 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:47.479 it's ideologically aligned with Project twenty twenty five and the 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:50.200 far rights desire to crosh the federal government. 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:51.880 Sorry continue, Yeah, No. 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:54.600 I absolutely, I actually think that. I mean, I think 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:56.600 the Texest has made this point which I think has 0:18:56.640 --> 0:18:58.840 to be understood. The debt leverage is going to be 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:03.480 combined with must takeover of the federal financial system. That's 0:19:03.520 --> 0:19:05.800 just say, like, once the debt ceiling stuff comes in, 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:07.840 there's gonna be a lot of debate what gets well cut, 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:10.199 what doesn't, And Musk is going to be able to 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:14.240 basically docs and out and make a big show of 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:17.840 various spending programs and give that. It's going to be 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:20.960 a leverage that Trump uses for this long held project 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:25.120 like radically scaling back social services in the United States. 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:28.320 I mean the basic math is that, like, Okay, if 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:31.199 military spending is off the table, and the Trump has 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:33.160 said he wants worse money on the military, not last, 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:35.320 then the only way you can get the kind of 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:38.720 cuts that you need to finance these tax cuts is 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:41.080 you have to go after Medicare and Social Security. I mean, 0:19:41.119 --> 0:19:43.880 those are like just they're just the biggest items on 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:47.680 the thing, and like everything else, all this USA USAID 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:49.640 stuff like that's just small peanuts. 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:52.440 Gee, just for one second, since you and I both 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:55.360 come from these very lefty I mean, I assume your 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:57.920 parents were big lefties, but my Grandpather was this communist, 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:01.119 Like didn't you always just assume USA was like a 0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:02.359 cover for the CIA. 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:04.680 Oh yeah, I know, it's totally a cover of the CI. 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:09.439 Yeah yeah, yeah, no, it totally is. Which is also 0:20:09.600 --> 0:20:11.880 kind of interesting. I mean there is I mean most 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:13.879 I think, you know, he has a lot of business 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:16.240 highs all over the world, and he's playing a lot 0:20:16.280 --> 0:20:19.119 of deep games, and I think, you know, like what 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:22.200 cadrule loud that like he's like you're gonna be able 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:26.320 to plotate various foreign people who want USAID to be cut. 0:20:26.480 --> 0:20:28.159 But I have to say it, like I think, on 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:31.560 the principle of it, I think, yes, a private billionaire 0:20:31.560 --> 0:20:34.280 should not be allowed to cut a government agency just 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:37.400 by his whim. Like that's like crazy and it's unconstitutional 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:39.960 and it's a coup and Democrats should oppose. 0:20:39.720 --> 0:20:40.680